COMMUNITY FORUM

Laminated 2x6 House

New Member and my first post. After researching and pricing log homes, laminated log homes and metal pole barn type homes (Morton Building homes), I have an idea. My Grand View UMC church has beautiful 2x6 laminated beams (arches) approximately 25 feet tall which is the main structure for our octagon shaped building. There are also laminated 2x6 beams between main beams sort of like timber frame buildings. There are also two 2x6 laminated beams set on brick columns holding up the main front drive under entrance. They are all beautiful and 15 years old. The outside beams just needed some sanding and refinishing this year and it was pretty easy to do.

Has any one seen or know why I couldn’t build a house with solid 2x6 walls? I priced the lumber and for under $6000 I can build a 30x 50 solid house. I would double this 1500 sq. feet by putting it on a full basement. I would also put on a metal roof and 10 ft. wrap around porch. This would protect most of the wood. I think I would do the end gables in metal or cement board siding. Starting on top of the basement I would use a 2x6 treated sill then just start gluing with Liquid Nails and driving galvanized nails. In logic I would be building a laminated wood Home I could make drill templates for each wall and drill the wiring holes as I go up. Or drill them down and run them into the floor trusses.

Window and doorframes could be made out of 2x6s or 1x6 plastic deck wood. I bought enough 2x6 today to build a 4x5 doghouse just to show folks how beautiful it would be. About half the folks I tell all this to think I’m crazy. The other half can’t wait to see it built so they can see if they want one. My old shop teacher said it best. “Well you have always been crazy but I can’t think of a single reason why it won’t work. “It is too easy and nobody could charge you a massive amount of money for laminated logs and such”.

I have 32 acres and 36x50 shop and a 130-year-old house I hate. This seems like a great idea for me, and a way to build my Dream Home for my wife and sons. Any Thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Okay, I got the 2x6 laminated dog house walls done today and my son and I learned a lot First we cut all the boards and started lapping the corners finger joint style, this adds about 12 inches to the size I had planned. So we cut 12 inches off every board. We had pretty straight boards but any bow was hard to pull out on the short boards. I think when building a cabin or house with longer boards it will be easier. I also think a little Liquid nails will hold a lot and small beads are all it will take. The 3.5-inch nails were over kill and a nail gun would great. It took my wife, son and I to move it ten feet. It was very heavy. My Sadie dog will not have to worry about our Kansas tornados. This structure is even stronger than I thought it would be. All in all we had fun building it and it was nice to get some father/son time in. I’m going to sand the corners a little bit and put some Olympic Honey Gold Stain like we used on the laminated beams on the church. Then take pictures before I decide what type of roof to make. My wife wants a gabled metal roof. I would still like to know if anybody has built anything like this before or have seen any houses built this way. Thanks